The Only Safe Place to Be Text: Psalm 91:1-13
Introduction: The Devil's Favorite Psalm
There are some passages of Scripture that are so rich, so full of potent promise, that they are frequently mishandled. And Psalm 91 is certainly one of them. This is a psalm that drips with assurances of absolute divine protection. It speaks of deliverance from traps, plagues, terrors, and arrows. It promises angelic bodyguards and victory over lions and serpents. It is a fire-breathing, dragon-slaying, devil-stomping psalm. And because of this, it is often treated like a magical incantation, a rabbit's foot to be pulled out of the pocket in times of trouble, detached from the covenantal context in which it was given.
But we should be immediately wary of any such approach, because the first time we see this psalm quoted in the New Testament, it is on the lips of the devil. In the wilderness, Satan tempts the Lord Jesus to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the Temple, and he cites verses 11 and 12 of this very psalm as his justification. "He will command His angels concerning you... On their hands they will bear you up, Lest you strike your foot against a stone." Now, when the devil starts quoting Scripture, it is not because he has had a recent conversion. It is because he knows how to twist it. He knows how to take a glorious truth and misapply it with surgical precision.
The devil's error was not in misquoting the text. He got the words right. His error was in ripping the promise from its context. The promises of this psalm are not a blank check for any reckless behavior we might dream up. They are conditional. They are for the one who "abides in the shelter of the Most High." They are for the one who has made Yahweh his refuge. Jesus' response to Satan was to quote another Scripture, "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." In other words, Jesus was saying that throwing Himself off the Temple would not be abiding in God's shelter, but rather departing from it. It would be a presumptuous act of testing God, not trusting Him. The promises apply when you are in the ways God has assigned, not when you are off on a frolic of your own.
So our task here is to understand this psalm as it was meant to be understood. We must see that these promises are not abstract guarantees floating in the air for anyone to grab. They are covenantal promises, fulfilled perfectly and completely in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are ours only as we are found in Him. He is the one who fulfilled the conditions perfectly, and therefore He is the secret place, He is the shelter, He is the fortress. To be in Christ is to be in the only safe place in the universe.
The Text
He who abides in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to Yahweh, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!" For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the destructive pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you will take refuge; His truth is a large shield and bulwark. You will not be afraid of terror by night, Or arrow that flies by day; Of pestilence that moves in darkness, Or of destruction that devastates at noon. A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked. For you have made Yahweh, my refuge, The Most High, your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, And no plague will come near your tent. For He will command His angels concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, Lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the fierce lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
(Psalm 91:1-13 LSB)
The Secret Place and the Public Declaration (v. 1-2)
The psalm opens by defining who these promises are for. It is not a universal declaration.
"He who abides in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to Yahweh, 'My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!'" (Psalm 91:1-2)
The condition is stated immediately: "He who abides." This is not about occasional visits. This is not for the person who runs to God only when the bullets are flying. This is for the one who has taken up residence. The word for shelter is also translated as "secret place." This is not a place that is obvious to the carnal mind. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him (Ps. 25:14). If you fear God, He will show you the secret entrance to this fortress. To the unbelieving world, this shelter looks like foolishness. It is a hidden reality, perceived only by faith.
To abide in this secret place is to "abide in the shadow of the Almighty." This is a picture of intimate proximity. To be in someone's shadow, you have to be right next to them. It is also a picture of protection. In the blistering heat of the desert, a shadow is a place of life-saving relief. The Almighty, El Shaddai, the all-powerful God, casts a very large and very safe shadow. To be there is to be safe.
In verse 2, the psalmist makes a personal, public declaration. It is not enough to quietly believe this; faith must speak. "I will say to Yahweh..." He gives God four titles: my refuge, my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. This is the language of personal, covenantal relationship. He is not just "a" refuge; He is "my" refuge. Faith takes the general promises of God and appropriates them personally. To trust in God is to be in the fortress. Faith is the act of running into the shelter.
The Nature of the Deliverance (v. 3-8)
The psalmist then begins to unpack the specific kinds of protection this resident of the secret place will enjoy.
"For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the destructive pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you will take refuge; His truth is a large shield and bulwark." (Psalm 91:3-4 LSB)
The dangers are both man-made and natural, both cunning and chaotic. The "snare of the trapper" refers to the devious plots of wicked men. The "destructive pestilence" refers to plagues and diseases. God delivers from them both. The metaphor used is tender and powerful. He will cover you with His feathers, like a mother eagle protecting her young. This is a picture of fierce, loving protection. We are safe under His wings. And what is our armor? "His truth is a large shield and bulwark." We are not protected by positive thinking or a vague sense of optimism. We are protected by the objective, unshakeable truth of God's Word and His character. This is our shield.
"You will not be afraid of terror by night, Or arrow that flies by day; Of pestilence that moves in darkness, Or of destruction that devastates at noon." (Psalm 91:5-6 LSB)
The protection is comprehensive. It covers all times, night and day. It covers all threats, the hidden and the overt. "Terror by night" could be anything from demonic assault to a home invasion. The "arrow that flies by day" could be slander, open attack, or even a metaphor for the same kind of pestilence mentioned next. The point is the totality of the protection. Whether the danger stalks in the darkness or lays waste at high noon, the one who abides in God need not be afraid. Fear is a liar, and faith in the promises of God is the gag that silences it.
"A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked." (Psalm 91:7-8 LSB)
This is a staggering promise. It depicts a scene of mass destruction, a battlefield or a plague-ridden city, where the believer walks untouched. This is not a promise that Christians will never suffer or die. Rather, it is a promise that nothing can touch the believer that is not first filtered through the sovereign, loving will of God. And when judgment falls upon the wicked, the righteous will be preserved. They will be spectators of God's justice. As God marked His people in Ezekiel before the judgment fell on Jerusalem, so He marks His people now. You are marked. You dwell under the protection of the pillar of cloud and fire.
The Reason for the Rescue (v. 9-13)
The psalm circles back to the foundation, the reason for all this security. It is not arbitrary.
"For you have made Yahweh, my refuge, The Most High, your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, And no plague will come near your tent." (Genesis 91:9-10 LSB)
The protection is a direct consequence of a decision, a settled state of the heart. "For you have made Yahweh... your dwelling place." Because you have done this, therefore that. Because you have taken up residence in Him, no ultimate evil can touch your true residence. The promise that "no evil will befall you" must be understood covenantally. It does not mean you will never get a flat tire or catch a cold. It means that nothing can happen to you that will separate you from the love of God or disrupt His ultimate, good purpose for your life. All things, even the things that feel evil to us, are being woven together for our good (Rom. 8:28).
"For He will command His angels concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, Lest you strike your foot against a stone." (Psalm 91:11-12 LSB)
Here we have the ministry of angels. God dispatches these mighty spiritual beings as a security detail for His saints. But notice the crucial qualifier that Satan conveniently omitted: "to guard you in all your ways." This refers to the ways of obedience, the path of righteousness, the life lived in submission to God's commands. It does not cover leaping off buildings for sport. The angels are there to protect you as you walk in the path of duty, not to bail you out of presumptuous stunts.
"You will tread upon the fierce lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down." (Psalm 91:13 LSB)
The psalm concludes this section with a promise of dominion. The believer will not just be defended, but will be on the offensive. Lions and serpents are biblical symbols for powerful, dangerous enemies, both human and demonic. The ultimate serpent, of course, is the devil (Rev. 12:9). This verse is a direct echo of the first gospel promise in Genesis 3:15, where God promises that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head. We are promised victory. We are summoned to become a race of snake-walkers.
All the Promises in Christ
Now, we must ask who has ever perfectly fulfilled the conditions of this psalm? Who has ever abided in the shelter of the Most High without wavering? Who has walked in all His ways without stumbling? Only one. The Lord Jesus Christ. He is the faithful Son who made the Most High His true habitation. He perfectly trusted His Father, even on the cross. And God delivered Him, not from the cross, but through it, raising Him from the dead to an indestructible life.
Because Jesus fulfilled this psalm perfectly, He now owns all the promises within it. And this is the glorious news of the gospel. If you are in Christ, if you have abandoned trust in yourself and have taken refuge in Him by faith, then all these promises are yours. Paul says that all the promises of God are "Yes" and "Amen" in Christ (2 Cor. 1:20). You cannot claim these promises in your own name. You can only claim them in His name.
He who found the secret place has become the secret place for us. He who dwelt in the habitation of God is now the habitation of God. To abide in the shelter of the Most High now means to abide in Christ. When we are in Him, we are delivered from the ultimate snare of the trapper, which is sin and death. We are protected from the final pestilence, which is the wrath of God. His truth, His finished work, is our shield. We need not fear the terror of the final judgment.
And the promise of dominion is ours in Him. He has crushed the serpent's head, and He has given us authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). The God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet (Rom. 16:20). So we do not read this psalm as a list of rules for earning protection. We read it as a description of the security we already possess in our union with the Lord Jesus. He is our refuge and our fortress. He is our God, and in Him, we trust.